Friday, March 02, 2007

Another (loud) dinner conversation with Mr. Vidiot

As mentioned here and on other sites, the recent revelations that the BBC and CNN both reported the WTC7 had collapsed, even though it hadn't and wouldn't for up to an hour, are a huge chink in the official 9/11 story's armor. Speculation suggests that maybe Flight 93, the one that crashed (shot down?) over Pennsylvania, was destined for WTC7 and when it didn't get there, the powers that be panicked, released the cover story too early to the media and then demolished the building to hide whatever evidence there was. (If you remember, WTC7 was used by the CIA). (It also doesn't help the official story that WTC7 was specially designed to NOT collapse the way it did.)

The questions that need to be answered are the following: (Conspiratorial) Who gave the information to the reporters? and (Journalistic incompetence) Why didn't anybody look out the window to make sure that WTC7 had indeed collapsed?

So what do we make of all of this stuff? What can come of it?

Well, over dinner last night, Mr. Vidiot and I got into it. The gist of the argument was thus:

Even if the truth of 9/11 is that yes, the government, or high-ranking members within the government, orchestrated the events of 9/11, what will happen? (Me) The government of the United States will collapse. (Him) Well, those responsible will be outed, tried and convicted and then life will return to business as usual, and the republic will remain intact, and possibly be even stronger.

As usual, Mr. Vidiot won the argument and here's why.

Even though he was using words like "reification", I understood his argument to be something like this: too many people believe in the existence of the government -- that it must exist, that we need it to exist, that there's no way we can exist without it. (He says a similar thing about capitalism.) Since people can't envision solving the problem of 9/11 without utilizing the tools of this government that the people have created, that's exactly how the problem will be dealt with. The tools that we, as people, have created via our government, will be used to remove the offending parts and pieces and at the end of the job, the tools will still be there, to use at a later date.

Now some will think "Well, of course, the point is to get the bad people out, replace them with good people and then move on."

While others, such as Mr. Vidiot -- and now, myself... mostly -- think "No, no no. 9/11 is merely a symptom -- a huge one, mind you, but a symptom nonetheless -- of a much larger sickness. It is a symptom of a sickness that is endemic to our system. Just cutting out the cancerous bits is not enough. The crux of the problem is money and power, or most likely, the nexus of the two. THAT'S what needs to be addressed. Yes, of course, the people who orchestrated 9/11 should be tarred and feathered (not the comical demise you might think it is) but we shouldn't stop there.

The problem is that governments no longer represent people. They support corporations. And corporations aren't connected to anybody but their shareholders. They are global entities with no boundaries. Their army is their exploited employees. Their police force and regulators are the lasting remnants of the Westphalian nation states. Wars are no longer fought over religion (pre-Westphalia) or territory. Now, wars are fought over natural resources and trade conflicts. It’s not only that Bush et al don’t care, it’s that they don’t care because their loyalty is not with the American people, but rather, their loyalty lies with the system that maintains the corporations. It is global. It is without boundaries. And, by its very nature, it is without morals.

Sure, find out the truth behind 9/11. We must do that. At the very least, it will wake some people up. But will it wake up enough people to create the momentum that will rid us of this system once and for all? I doubt it. And will those people who are awakened go back to sleep after the problem is dealt with using the rule of law that is part of this system? Probably.

I have a sliver of hope that something good will come of all this. That the revelations pertaining to 9/11 will do good, will give us the impetus to reign in the power of the corporations and other wealth- and power-driven entities that are running the show, but I also feel like we're running out of time. The window will eventually close, either due to human complacency, the power of the police state, or a combination of those two things.

Will we follow the path of liberation or will we follow the path to permanent enslavement?

0 Comments:

1.(sometimes capital letters 'V' and 'S' with no space) a style of writing or saying something using emotion and/or logic and snark, esp. in order to elucidate the obvious while pretending to be objective.

2. anything written by The Vidiot, The Sailor, Mr. Vidiot and anyone else they allow to post on the blog “vidiotspeak”

[Origin: loosely based on new + speak, coined by George Orwell in his novel, 1984 (1949)]